We are FAMILY!!

We were blessed to be surrounded by our family upon sweet baby Nora's arrival.

 Proud Pops!

 Pops, Mema and the girls

So blessed Mema was able to love on sweet Nora when we brought her home from the hospital

Turner sure loves his Mema 

 The girls

 Sweet cousins

 Sweetness

 So thankful for Aunt CC...she immediately dropped everything and came to our house before she moved to Colorado to help keep Turner and Lydia's schedule somewhat "normal" with all the craziness going on.

 The week after we got Nora back, we had already planned a fun slumber party with Lydia's birthmom and siblings.  We had a blast!!!

 This picture just melts my heart.  Lydia's birthmom Kassandra has been one of our biggest prayer warriors over the past several months.  She has encouraged me and given me so much hope.  I love you so so so much Kassandra. I couldn't hand pick a better birthmom for Lydia and so blessed you're my dear friend!

 The boys had a blast playing dress up all weekend long!!  I'm going to stock up on Halloween costumes when they go on sale after the 31st!

 I love love love family time!

 everyone but Antonio

 Lolly and Nora

 Finally a picture of Antonio...he's too cool for all my obnoxious pictures!

 Yes, we eat ALOT when we are all together.  So thankful my John loves to cook.  He made Kassandra's favorite....jumbo Hamburgers!

 Grandma Judy and sleeping beauty

 Big brother Antonio

 Our 1st Sunday together....Lydia refused to smile :) 

 He's glowing!

 Be.still.my.heart.

 Proud mommy!

 Blessings from Brokenness

Psalm 27: 13

"I am confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord"

I prayed and believed this verse at my core during the 3 weeks away from Nora. 

Nora Sophia Rose

 Well, we've come a long way since my last post.  Our journey to Nora has had so many twists and turns but God remained faithful as promised.  My hearts desire is that our journey glorified HIS Kingdom and will serve as a reminder of his faithfulness and may even encourage others to never loose faith despite heart ache, anger, and confusion.

Here are some pictures from our 1st days with this little angel.

 One proud daddy! I fall more and more in love with this sweet man every day!  I couldn't hand pick a better daddy and husband

 Blessed beyond belief

 our little bundle weighed 7 lbs and 14 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Sophia is the name her birthmother chose and Rose is after my dear little Grandma Rose.  And we love the name Nora :)

 The admiration and love I have for her mom can never be put into words.  She is kind, loving, strong (she gave birth 100 % natural) quiet, brave, sensitive, joyful and is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  We are so blessed by her selfless act to choose adoption and we celebrate that she wants to have an on going relationship with us! During Nora's birth, we had the privilege to meet her grandma and grandpa, 1 aunt, and 1 uncle and her birthmom's best friend. It was truly a family affair.  We look forward to getting to know them better over the years.

 some quality snuggle time with her birthmomma

 One big happy family!

 2 very very proud siblings.  Turner and Lydia are in LOVE with their "Baby Nora" and can't quit holding and kissing on her. 

 Turner's favorite thing to do is help feed her and then of course he gets a kick out of burping her too!

 And Lydia just loves to snuggle with her and sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"  in the sweetest high pitched voice

 coming home from the hospital was hard work!!

These 1st 4 days with sweet Nora were such were a blur but oh so wonderful.  Our hearts were broken into a million pieces when we had to give her back...but 3 weeks later God put the pieces back together! After 2 weeks with her birthmom, promises weren't being upheld and her birthmom knew deep in her heart, adoption was the best choice for her daughter....so through a string of phone calls and visits, she changed her mind and relinquished her rights.  All of this went on while we were in Florida with the Satterfields....unknown to us :)  Deaconess wanted to protect our hearts just in case something went wrong.  In the mean time, for an entire week, this precious precious family loved on our baby girl for us.  One bright sunny Monday afternoon, I got a call from Meghan with Deaconess which  I thought was a bit strange since we had taken our name off the list for a few months.  We chit chatted for a while then she proceeded to tell me she had really been working hard while we were on vacation....I was still a bit puzzled and asked what she meant.  She then told me the entire story and asked if we wanted to come pick up our baby girl!!!!  Of course we did...and less than an hour after that phone call, we held her in our arms again, but this time forever!   

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all our friends, family, and even strangers who have prayed and encouraged us over the last 2 months.  We felt every single prayer and are so thankful God put each of you in our lives. 

Worn

The last week has been a roller coaster of emotions: excitement, fear, joy, panic, and heart break.  We got a call early last week about a birthmom who popped into our adoption agency looking for forever parents for her unborn baby girl.  She was Choctaw so it was an easy match since John has his Choctaw registration card.  We felt like this was the little doll baby that would complete our family.  We have had 2 failed adoptions since March  and we really believed all the brokeness was leading up to this blessing..

We were honored to witness sweet baby Nora Sophia Rose's birth on Friday morning and spent the next several days bonding with her and her birthmom.  We brought her home with us on Saturday afternoon and introduced her to family and friends.  Turner & Lydia instantly fell in love with their "Baby Nora". 

Then out of no where- our world was turned upside down by one little call....on Monday the birthmom had changed her mind, she had decided to parent. 

NOT AGAIN God, PLEASE....my heart can't take it.....

Needless to say, this song explains EXACTLY how I am feeling...absolutely worn, my heart is heavy.....I have been mediatating to this song every day because I don't even know what to pray for - but God knows my heart and my hurt

Yesterday I was doing a new devotional and it really spoke to me.  Often as Christians, we pray to get "out" of the hurt and pain....but just maybe we should  pray for God to help us "through" the pain instead. 

I was reminded by a dear friend, counselor, and mentor that many times in the Bible Jesus wept and so did those who followed him.  I often feel guilty and ashamed to grieve because if I have complete faith and trust in God, isn't grieving going against him....NO.  I needed that reminder that it's ok to be sad, angry,  cry out to God and ask WHY.  I have no doubt he is weeping with me as we navigate through this pain and heart ache.

So what now......we have decided to put our profile on hold for at least 3 months and spend alot of time in prayer and fasting.  I have no doubt God will reveal his desire for our family during this time. 

 In the meantime we will enjoy all the blessings God has given us and cling to the truth that His Love NEVER Fails.

Watercolor- dreaming of the beach

Nothing like updating nearly a month after we have been home from the beach!! 

We spent the 1st week of June in Watercolor Florida with my parents, Aunt CC & E, and Lynn and Karen.  How can you not have a blast with that crew!  We laughed, ate, swam, ate some more, rode bikes, shopped, ate some more, and most importantly just enjoyed life together with family.  My sweet Turner reminded me the other day that families stick together!  Indeed real family does. 

Enjoy my many pictures!!  Believe it or not, I only took my camera to the beach 2 days :)  Imagine all the pictures I'd have if I took it every day!

 Nearly every day we would treat the kids (and yes us too) to either Sno Cones or Ice cream...some times we'd even treat ourselves to a 2nd helping!

 Turner is no doubt our little beach bum!  He was super excited to be at the beach and was ready to get his feet wet

 Daddy even took a little swim

 Throw the ball to me!!!

 Ready, set, throw

 Gonna give boogie boarding a trie

 waiting so patiently for a  BIG wave

Here goes nothing!

 Enjoying the sun with Lolly

 Did I say this boy loves the beach!  Sand and all!

 Now sis was a different story

 Pops' favorite spot, in the nice cool shade enjoying the breeze from the ocean

 Mommy & Turner enjoying the water

 Happy kids = Happy mommy

 Be. Still. Oh. Heart

 After a few days, sis finally warmed up, however she'd prefer if her feet didn't get sand on them.  Notice the shoes and the boogie board!

 Is that not the cutest little booty you've ever seen

 Diggin for crabs and sea shells

 Cheese!!

 Uncle E has her heart

 The kids made friends on the beach and enjoyed a few hours of crab hunting

 Super shades for the Super Star

 Having fun with Aunt Cc

 Muscle Man

Our house this year had wrap around porches on both levels!  It was so nice to let the kids run around and enjoy the gorgeous weather

These two spent one morning with Lolly & me shopping, or should I say looking, at all the neat shops in Seaside

 They love their Lolly & Pops

 Crazy Abundantly Blessed!

The whole crazy gang

 Thanks to Lolly, Pops, Lynn & Karen- we got to have a fun date night with Aunt CC & E. 

 Livin the rough life

 Dinner at the Red Door- highlight of the dinner, seeing former OSU basketball coaches Eddie & Sean Sutton

 Turner begged to be buried alive- it was shallow, promise

 I think this is Turner's dream summer job!  As long as he lets mommy come and spend the summers with him, I'm all in!

 This year, Lydia was potty trained so we learned very quickly how to pee pee on the side of the road.

This was sis' 1st reaction to the beach :(

~Showin some love~

Waiting patiently outside our favorite Sushi restaurant. 

We are blessed to go back in August with all the Satterfield clan.  We can't wait to show them our favorite spots and make memories for a life time!

Thanks Lolly & Pops for yet another super awesome vacation!